Xherdan Shaqiri

[StevieM]

I'm all for some system that limits spending, limits squad size & limits the amount of players you can loan.

I'm all for everyone having the same transfer & wage budget, limiting squad sizes & stopping loan deals for players over the age of, say 21.

 

[darkstarexodus]

I think the most feasible "American" style innovation would be some form of revenue sharing/luxury tax from top teams to lower teams. Would help improve competitive balance and may dissuade the largest teams from inflating the market or monopolizing players. The question would be how far down does the money get shared? Championship?

I dont think a draft is feasible at all, nor do I think a salary/transfer cap is either unless all of Europe were to embrace it. Otherwise your Barca, Madrid, PSG, Bayern etc would control the top end of the market.

 

[Fallon]

A draft system, or any attempt at, would be an abortion for football as we know it. The only things I wouldn't mind from the NFL are wage caps (proportional but fair, no skew to the big boys) and video challenges.

 

[StevieM]

I think a Europe wide blanket cap of £50m per season allowed for transfers (including all payments to
players & agents), with a wages budget of, something similar.

Add in max squad size of 22 players over the age of 21 & no loans allowed for players over the age of 21.

That would be an interesting start.

 

[tombrown]

Presumably in NFL the draft system means the clubs don't invest much in youth academies, they just rely on the colleges. Can't see UK universities stepping up to that 🙂

 

[Mystic]

Presumably in NFL the draft system means the clubs don't invest much in youth academies, they just rely on the colleges. Can't see UK universities stepping up to that 🙂

Yep, and by the time most kids finish university, they've already missed some of the most important years of their career, its an abortion of an idea. Let take for example Sterling, Owen, Gerrard, Rooney(lol), Walcott, imagine if they had to go through university and couldn't start playing at the highest level until they were 21/22, they would have been held back, and it would have affected their careers. Now lets look at the Europeans, Fabregas, Suso, Januzaj and many more, they would have never come to England, as they wouldn't have been eligible/the academies just wouldn't have been there. Finally look at the political side of it as TomBrown points out, imagine the government saying "We going to increase University spending to make up for the investment rich football clubs put into academies, because for some reason the FA thought some bullshit American model was a good idea" yeh, that would go down well. I cant even make a good case for a market or wage cap, because unlike in America, these sports are played world wide, and not just in two countries, so you cannot control the market like they do over there. Its a train crash of an idea, and that's exactly where it should stay, in a train crash.

 

[tombrown]

But we could have a load of poncey oxford dons in gowns & mortar boards either on the playing staff or as supporters. The Harry would have to start serving Pimms or dry sherry pre match.

 

[darkstarexodus]

The above points are correct but I do think revenue sharing or a luxury tax charged to teams that spend above a certain amount would help redistribute wealth, improve competitive balance and deter egregious spending.

 

[Mystic]

The above points are correct but I do think revenue sharing or a luxury tax charged to teams that spend above a certain amount would help redistribute wealth, improve competitive balance and deter egregious spending.

It would be impossible though, teams in American leagues are franchises of the leagues themselves, so effectively operating under the leagues business model, basically the league has a huge amount of control. Clubs over here are completely separate businesses and would never agree to giving there cash to other clubs, and who would we trust to regulate that transfer of money? The FA?